US Congress Wants To Give Parents More Power To Protect Their Children Online

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Last summer, YouTube announced that it would end targeted advertising in children’s videos. This decision was made under pressure from the Federal Trade Commission. The site was indeed accused by several associations of not respecting the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a law introduced in 1998, which aims to protect the privacy of minors on the Internet. In the end, Google paid a $ 170 million fine and committed to making changes to YouTube.

Two flagship measures are planned in this reform

This law, which is therefore very troublesome for web giants, could be further strengthened. In any case, this is the will of two members of the House of Representatives belonging to the Democratic and Republican parties.

The bill dubbed “PROTECT Kids Act” sponsored by Tim Walberg and Bobby Rush has two main components. It would prohibit platforms from collecting data from children under the age of 16, compared to 13 currently. The text would also allow parents to delete their children’s data from a website, the company being required to provide a way to do so.

Cited by Engadget, Tim Walberg justified this reform of the protection of minors online: “In the past, predators and attackers have sought to harm our children by hiding near schoolyards and playgrounds, but now – due to technological advances – they are able to track down our children via their mobile devices and in video game platforms. “

There is still a long way to go before the adoption of this text that large web companies do not necessarily see very favorably. The bipartisan support it enjoys nevertheless offers it a good chance of success.